Designation device



Oct. 4, 1927.

E. A. REINKE DESIGNATION DEVICE June 8 1926 INVENTOR EU GE NE A'.REINKE- ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 4, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENTT OFFICEQ,

EUG NE A. REINKE, E noc EsT n, NEW YonK AssIGNoE To THE sT oMBEEo-oanLson TELEPHONE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW RK; A conronATioNon NEW YoRK. I i s I DESIGNATION nEvIoE.

Application filed June 8,

Th-is invention relates to apparatus for designation purposes and moreparticularly tota'combined lamp jack strip and designation strip. p Oneobject of this invention is the, conservation' ofspace in connectionwith the mounting of outgoing trunk jacks, their associated busy lampsand the designation for said trunk jacks and lamps.

Another object of this invention is the provision of means-whereby theordinary individual lamp'caps associated with switchboard lamps aredispensed with'and in their place is provided a common strip upon whichmaybe printed the. designation of the group of trunks with which saidlamps are associated.

- Another object of this invention is the provision of means whereby thelight of one lamp associated with one trunk of a group will illuminate adesignation device whic is common to several trunks of a group.

The jack strip of this invention may be similar tothat disclosed inthepatent to Wot-ton No. 1,159,562, issued November .9, 1915, except thatin this invention the individual lamp caps designated 48 in the abovepatent are dispensed with. I

Although this invention is of particular advantage. in connection withbusy lamps associated with outgoing trunks located at an A operatorsposition, it is not limited to this particular type of system,the'limitation being particularly pointed outv in the appended claims. a

It is customary in manualtelephone systems to provide a strip of lampjacks, with their associated lamps, which correspond to and are locatedeither above or below the strip of outgoing trunk jacks assigned to aparticular distant exchange. In such a system it is customary to providea designation strip usually above the lamp jack strip with thedesignation of the otfice to which these trunks lead, indicated onsaiddesignation strip. This arrangement, of course, takes upconsiderable space since the trunk jack strip, lamp jack strip anddesignation strip occupy considerable space in the switchboard, which isValuable.

In'this invention the space heretofore 00- 1926.. Serial No. 114,593.

cupied by the designation strip is available for use by strips of trunkjacks and lamp jacks since the designation strip is located in {{ront ofand attached to the strip of lamp ac s.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a; perspective view of a single lampjack stripto which is attached the designation strip holder inaccordance with thisrinvention. It is assumed in this case that thisstrip contains the usual number of lamp jacks, for example 20, althoughin this figure the strip hasbeen cutup into three sections to simplifythe drawing. Fig.2 is a perspective View of one end of the lamp jackstrip, which is shown tilted towards the observer more than Fig. 1',-inorder that the lamp jacks and the: associated apparatus may be moreclearly'shown. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one end of thedesignation strip holder with one of its associated thim'bles, which isfor the purpose ofattachin'gfthis designation strip holder to the lampjac'k strip. This figure also shows the metal designation strip holdertogether with the paper designation strip upon which the dosignation isprinted and the transparent strip of celluloid or other material. 4 is atransverse vertical cross-section through the thimble 16 of Fig. 1.Corresponding reference. numerals applied to the-different figures referto the samed'etail of the apparatus. fl

As shownin these drawings the strip" of lamp sockets comprises a sheetmetal frame or support having a main portion 1:, upon each end of whichare formed ears 2 and 3 for fastening said strip in a switchboard. Aninsulating block 4 of formica or other suitable material is held inplace by means of the projections 5 and 6 attached to ears 2 and 3 bymeans of screws or other suit able attaching arrangements. 7

Attached to the mainportion lare' lamip j ack assemblies 7 8' and othersockets making-up a complete set of the'required numher, for example 20.These lamp jacks are mounted on the main portion 1 in such a positionthat they are in alignment with the holes 9, 10, etc., which are locatedin the insulating block 4. The small switchboard lamps areinserted'through these openings in the insulating strip and contact withjacks such as 7 and 8.

The designation strip holder. shown at tached to the lamp jack strip inFig. 1, but more clearly shown in Fig. 3, consists of a sheet of. brassor other metal 11, having over turned portions 12 and 13 which form achannel for holding the paper designation strip 14 and the transparentstrip 15. Designation strip 1 1, preferably consists of some transparentpaper such as onion skin paper while transparent strip 15 consists of atransparent material such as celluloid, which serves to hold the paperdesignation strip in place and to protect it from becoming-soiled ordamaged. Portion 23, which is bent up at an angle at each end of themetal holder is for the purpose of forming a stop to prevent the paperand celluloid stripsfrom'shifting endwise in the holder.

As shown in Fig. 1 the designation strip holder is approximately of thesame length as the insulation block and it is attached to 5 this blockby inserting the three thimbles 16,

17 and 18 into openings in the insulating block 4:. This metaldesignation holder has circular openings in alignment with the openingsin the insulating block and these openings, including those associatedwith thimbles 16, 17 and 18, allow the light from the associated lampsto shine throughand illuminate the designation strip.

' The thimbles, which are integral with the holder portion of thedesignation strip holder are each composed of a cylindrical shell 19, asmost clearly shown in Fig. 3. This shell is provided with slots 20, 21,22 and an additional slot in the rear of the thimble (which is not shownin Fig. 3) and for the purpose of forming spring sections, whichsections are spread slightly so that upon insertion of the thimbles intothe openings in the insulation block they serve :to clamp thedesignation strip holder in position. It will thus be seen that thelettered designation strip may be easily removed from the switchboardsince the complete designation strip holder including the paperdesignation strip and the celluloid strip may be'taken out by simplypulling it forward until the thimbles disengage the openings in theinsulation block.

Upon the paper designation strip is printed the designation of theexchange with extend over the space occupied by only 5 lamps. Anotherexchange designation would then be printed on a succeeding portion ofthe strip associated with the lamps of that exchange.

In the operation of the system to which it is assumed this invention isapplied, when the A operator receives a call for a subscriber in adistant exchange, she inserts the calling plug into a jack associatedwith the exchange as indicated by the designation shown in Fig. 1. Theparticular ack which she chooses will be one associated with a lampwhich is not lighted, this being an indication that the trunk is in itsidle condi-' tion. It is assumed that the system in-which this operationtakes place is of thestraight forward trunking type, that is where the Aoperator plugs into an idle trunk jack leading to the wanted exchangeand does not make use of the well known order wire system.

It will be noted that since there areno individual lamp caps associatedwith the lamps of this invention, the rays of light are not confined tothe individual lamp which is lighted, but they spread out behind thepaper designation strip and illuminate the complete word associated withone exchange.

It will be understood that, although this invention has been described.in connection with a particular portion of the operation of a telephonesystem, it relates to a designation device which may be used for otherpurposes.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a lamp jack strip provided with'openings into whichlamps are inserted, a designation strip holder provided with holes inalignment with said openings, and means for attaching said desigationstrip holder to said lamp jack strip.

2. In combination, a lamp jack strip provided with openings into whichlamps. are

inserted, a designation strip holder provided with holes inalignment'with saidopenings, and spring means for attaching saiddesignation strip holder to said lamp jack strip.

3. In combination, a lamp jack strip pro- Xided withopenings into whichlamps are inserted, a designation strip holder provided with holes inalignment wlth said openings, and means for attaching said designationstrip holder to said lamp jack-strip, said"- means including a thimbleforming. apart of said designation strlp.

41-. In combination, a lamp jack strippro vided with openings into whichlampsare inserted, a designation strip holder provided with holes inalignment with. said openings, and means for attaching said designationstrip holder to said lamp jack strip, said means including a pluralityof thimbles forming a part of said designation strip engaging the sidesof certain of said openings.

5. In combination, a lamp jack strip provided with openings into whichlamps are inserted, a designation strip hold-er provided with holes inalignment with said openings, and means for attaching said desigationstrip holder to said lamp jack strip, said means comprising a thimblethrough which one of said lamps is inserted into one of said openings.

6. In combination, a lamp jack strip provided with openings into whichlamps are inserted, a designation strip holder provided with holes inalignment with said openings, and means for attaching said designationstrip holder to said lamp jack strip, said means comprising thimblesthrough which.

said lamps are inserted intosaid openings. said thimbles frictionallyengaging sides of said openings.

7. A designation device comprising a holder having a plurality ofcircular openings therein, plurality of hollow thimbles secured incertain of said openings, the free end of each thimble being splitwhereby it is rendered resilient, and a translucent strip having adesignation thereon mounted on said holder to cover said openings.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 5th day of June A.D. 1926.

. EUGENE A. REINKE.

